


The Ringmaster

by xspike4evax



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Explicit Language, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Other, Public Humiliation, Sexual Slavery, Situational Humiliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 10:21:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4915849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xspike4evax/pseuds/xspike4evax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She might be Angelus' captive but that doesn't mean Buffy's given up. She'll always keep fighting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ringmaster

The Ringmaster

Buffy hardly felt the aches and pains any more, they were too much a constant. If she wasn't so weak her supernatural Slayer healing would kick in, but Angelus fed her enough to keep body and soul together and not a scrap more. The last thing he wanted was for her to regain her strength, then he'd lose his little gold mine.

The cool metal bars of her cage pressed into her back as Buffy leant against them, savouring the quiet time and a chance to gather what little strength she had. It was imperative she was at her strongest for the night ahead to ensure she wouldn't crumble. She would never give Angelus that satisfaction.

Only once he had reduced her to tears and they were not self-pitying. He had refused to divulge any information about Xander and Giles, but smiling pleasantly, eyes gleaming, Angelus had dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper and told her that Willow was under Spike's care. He had laughed at her violent reaction as she had tried to free herself from the metal shackles which kept her chained to the wall; her only thought to claw his face until the blood ran.

She hadn't been able to wait until he left her alone before the tears fell. The thought of Willow with Spike was even more horrifying than the ritual pain and humiliation she endured at Angelus' hands.

What Spike did to Willow she never discovered. Angelus would tell her nothing. It was enough that she knew who Willow belonged to, he felt no need to elaborate on Willow's position, but allowed her own imagination to torture her about her friends welfare. Buffy knew as well as Angelus did that not knowing was worse than anything he could tell her. There was nothing to deal with, nothing to make peace with, just worry and fear which fed back into each other on a continuous agonising loop.

They had left Sunnydale some time ago, Buffy couldn't be sure how long it had been, her sense of day and night was all out of whack. That happened when someone spent all their time locked in a basement where no chink of light could penetrate.

At the moment they resided in L.A. She in the basement, Angelus, Drusilla and Spike in the house and Willow; somewhere. Buffy spent a lot of her time straining her ears for screams of pain and pleas for help, but she had heard nothing so far. Whether Willow was alive or dead Buffy didn't know and it kept her awake, picking at her conscious like a half healed scab.

Her nape prickled and Buffy looked up, sensing Angelus was near. She had an innate sense of awareness where he was concerned. He was standing in the wings with a species of demon Buffy was unfamiliar with. There was a sudden pang in her chest as her grief for Giles washed over her.

Buffy turned away from Angelus, although what else there was to see was far from an improvement. There were other humans backstage in various states of undress or garish costume, chained and caged as she was. They would have an easy time of it tonight, she was the star of the show. She was always the star of the show.

Angelus arrived at her cage and opened the door, unlocking her cuffs and affixing a leash to the black leather collar she wore, he tugged hard, forcing her onto her hands and knees to stop her face hitting the floor.

The wooden floor was hard on her knees but Buffy was used to it. Crawling naked onto the stage on a leash was actually the easy bit. Her body no longer flushed with humiliation, she no longer tried to fight the inevitable, she just went where Angelus led. It didn't mean she had given up, Buffy would never give up, but she didn't see the need to subject herself to a beating. She needed to preserve her strength and a beating from Angelus, as she knew from experience, would severely sap her of what little energy she had left.

As Angelus led her out onto the stage an awed hush fell over the crowd of demons gathered in the audience. She always elicited the same response; disbelief and wonder that they were witnessing a Slayer brought to her knees by a vampire. She supposed in a strange way, for a demon, especially a vampire, to be up close to a Slayer was sort of like a regular person being up close to a celebrity.

Buffy kept looking straight ahead while Angelus paraded her around the stage. She could feel their eyes on her; grubby, greedy, invasive eyes; prying and peering at every spare inch of flesh. They made her feel dirty and contaminated, tainted, as though she would never be clean again. And the worst was yet to come.

There were metal spikes in the centre of the stage and it was to these Angelus shackled her, flat on her back with her knees bent and her legs spread facing the audience. Humiliation and hate curled in the pit of her stomach. Hate, Buffy had found, was a great source of sustenance. She held it close, cradling it, nurturing it, allowing it to grow hard and strong ready for when she needed to feed off it to destroy her enemy.

A strand of hair sat on her cheek and once he had her locked in place, Angelus gently tucked her hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek with cool fingers. It was a calculated move, designed to unnerve her, break her down; but Buffy didn't even flinch.

Buffy remembered the first time he had come to the basement where she was huddled naked in a corner embarrassed and frightened and embarrassed at being frightened. She had expected violence and degradation from him. She had expected him to force himself on her, but he had taken one look at her and laughed. Eyes bright with amusement, lips curled into a grin Angelus had shook his head. "You've got too high an opinion of yourself, Buff. Got no desire to put my cock anywhere near you, I've had all the use I can get out of your cunt."

It was probably stupid to have been hurt by his words, but Buffy had been hurt. To think that lips which had kissed her so sweetly could say such vile things to her and wrung her heart. Now she didn't make the mistake of confusing him with Angel.

Some day she would destroy Angelus. When he least expected it, even if she died in the process, Buffy knew in her heart she would rid the world of this monster.

"Show time," Angelus whispered in ear.

He got up and moved to the front of the stage out of Buffy's eye-line. She gladly took this brief respite from him; for after he got the crowd all whipped up and put her in position, on her hands and knees facing the audience, he would be there for the rest of the night, on the corner of her peripheral vision; gloating, enjoying her humiliation.

"Welcome everyone," Angelus addressed the room full of demons. "You all know me, I'm Angelus." This was greeted with a roar of approval. "I've got a special treat for you all tonight. The lovely Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is here to entertain you." He clapped his hands together, "You've all paid your fees, so whose first to fuck the Slayer?"

The shouts grew even louder and Buffy fleetingly wondered if she would ever escape this nightmare, and then she chastised herself for the traitorous thought. She had killed The Master and she could kill Angelus too. Angelus underestimated her, he thought she was weak, that associating Angel's face with barbaric cruelty was enough to grind her down; but it wasn't. This creature wore the face of the man she loved, but he was not Angel. Angel would want Angelus gone. Angel would expect her to kill Angelus and Buffy would not let him down.

Demon voices rose to a din, there was the sound of confused movement and frenzied excitement. They were like kids at a circus.

The urge to slay bubbled beneath the surface of Buffy's skin and that all consuming hate she was beginning to know very well burned away inside her. She would have revenge for all they did to humans in this place, she would annihilate each and every one of them.

Angelus suddenly came into her line of vision; she would start with the ring master.

 


End file.
